The Conversation

Teen 'boys will be boys': A brief history

Written by Ashwini Tambe, Editorial Director, Feminist Studies; Associate Professor, Department of Women's Studies, University of Maryland

Are white boys given longer to grow up?Everett Collection/Shutterstock

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s actions as a teenager are at the center of a public firestorm.

“I’ve been really troubled by the excuse offered by too many that this was a high school incident, and ‘boys will be boys,’ said Sen. Chris Coons...

The data is in: Americans who don't finish high school are less healthy than the rest of the US

Written by Shanta R. Dube, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, Georgia State University

Staying in school improves your chances of a healthy future.sheff/shutterstock

On Sept. 20, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the latest numbers on health in the U.S.

This report provides a snapshot of Americans’ health up to 2016, revealing several key trends – including that Americans who don’t finish high...

Want to help after a disaster? Consider waiting a bit

Written by Michelle Annette Meyer, Associate Executive Director, Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center, Texas A&M University

The flood damage from Hurricane Harvey, including this Friendswood, Texas, house, will take years to repair.AP Photo/David J. Phillip

What’s the best way to help disaster victims?

We agree with other disaster experts that cash is more helpful than mounds of clothing, diapers and other goods. Giving money limits waste and makes it easier to...

Can pink really pacify?

Written by Julie Irish, Assistant Professor of Interior Design, Iowa State University

Some believe the color pink can calm unruly inmates. Others say it's a form of humiliation.Mohd KhairilX/Shutterstock.com

As an interior designer, I’ve long been interested in how different colors can affect our mood and behavior.

For example, if you’ve recently been to a fast food restaurant, you might notice that there’s a lot...

How Australia can help the US make democracy harder to hack

Written by Scott Shackelford, Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics; Director, Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance; Cybersecurity Program Chair, IU-Bloomington, Indiana University

The U.S. and Australia can boost each other's security.Bennian/Shutterstock.com

In the drumbeat of reports about Russian attempts to undermine U.S. democratic institutions with trolls, Twitter bots and cyberattacks on congressional candidates, it is easy to forget that the problem of election security is not isolated to the United States, and...

After a fatal shark attack on Cape Cod, will the reaction be coexistence or culling?

Written by Carlos G. García-Quijano, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island

Warning sign at a Cape Cod beach.Carlos García-Quijano, CC BY-ND

Interactions between people and animals offer insights into human culture and societies’ core values. This is especially true with respect to large predators – perhaps due to a collective memory of our evolutionary past as hunted prey.

Along with fellow...

10 US military bases are named after Confederate generals

Written by Jeff South, Associate Professor of Journalism, Virginia Commonwealth University

The Fort Hood military base in Killeen, Texas.AP Photo/ Tamir Kalifa

In the debate over Confederate symbols in the U.S., the 10 Army bases named after Confederate generals who fought for the South during the Civil War have largely escaped scrutiny.

As a former newspaper reporter and a current journalism professor, I have wondered why the media...

Things have changed since Anita Hill – sort of

Written by Meg Bond, Professor of psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Anita Hill, who accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, amid heavy security when she was to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Oct. 10, 1991. AP Photo/Doug Mills

In 1991, Anita Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. Thomas was nonetheless confirmed. Now, as Brett...

How the mafia uses violence to control politics

Written by Gianmarco Daniele, Post-Doctoral economics researcher, Bocconi University

Italy is not the only country with an organized crime problem. But movies and TV shows like “Scarface,” “The Godfather” and “Gomorrah” have made the Italian mobs – in both their southern Italian and American incarnations – world-famous.

Such pop culture portrayals tend to romanticize a dangerous...

Mapping the 100 trillion cells that make up your body

Written by Mark Atkinson, Professor of Medicine , University of Florida

University of Florida scientists will be analyzing every cell in the pancreas, among other organs, to understand the roots of Type 1 diabetes.Magic mine/Shutterstock.com

There are about 100 trillion cells that make up the human body. A new megascience endeavor will catalog and image each of the 200 or more types of cells from the 80 known organs...